The NBA playoffs start today and I’m excited to watch some “grown-man” basketball (along with “posterized,” this locution has been annoying prevalent this season). I suppose that anyone who has been following the NBA this season knows this already, but GQ has a nice rundown of (most of) the teams that made the playoffs.

Personally, I’m tend to be a fan of specific players over teams—I suppose I can only stake a legitimate claim to the Hawks as my local squad: their opening series against the Bucks is promising, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing Jennings school Bibby, my least favorite Hawk. The Magic look good once again and I expect to see them in the conference finals: they’ll miss Turkoglu but Vince has already proven himself and I can’t imagine he’ll be less than brilliant in the postseason. Even though KG was my hometown hero back in the day and I’m glad he got his ring, but I don’t think the Celtics have it in them and I’m a sucker for Wade’s underdog appeal.

Lebron is a foregone conclusion.

The bottom halves of both conferences are stacked with dark horses, though I can only realistically see one and two seeds in the conference finals. If last year is any indication, the West seems more prone to early-round upsets due to tighter competition. I think the Durant (and then Denver) will give the Lakers a run for the money, but I’d take Dallas over the spotty Spurs. Lastly, I have no idea what to expect from the Suns and Blazers matchup.

I’m actually ambivalent about the Lakers—they’re alternately the team that I love to hate and I hate to love—but I’m fascinated with the semi-mythological culture of Phil Jackson’s team and, of course, Kobe.

In the manner of Carles: which NBA team has the most hipster cred? Portland is easily the most hipster town, but I’ll venture the Nuggets because they’re all tatted up and Melo is from the ‘authentic’ hipster dive-city (if there is such a thing) of Baltimore (via Brooklyn, no less)… though you could probably make a similar argument for just about any team or superstar.

Of course, the real sign that I’m a hipster: I’d rather hit MoMA to see Fassbinder’s World On a Wire tonight (Art vs Basketball?)… and I’ll catch the games tomorrow if I’m not out biking.